Sardinia Ecotourism Network

Graphics and logo of the Sardinia Ecotourism Network by Mara Damiani.

The challenging times we are living in today have made it clear that each of us will be required to further make an effort to safeguard the planet. The assumption of a concrete commitment to the protection and promotion of the values of sustainability is inevitable. Each of us in our own domain. Being eco-sustainable means reducing the impact of our company on the environment, through choices capable of producing social and economic benefits for our communities.

This concept has always been the cornerstone of the “Antica Locanda Lunetta” project, starting from where we are: we wanted to invest our resources, our time and our energy in Mandas, a small rural village in the hills, perhaps far from the coast, but immersed in an authentic reality of agro-pastoral tradition. A place that young people have been abandoning for several decades, in search of personal fulfillment, but which is actually rich in history, charm and tradition.

We have chosen an old farmhouse of the seventeenth century, once a post station, which certainly would have fallen into disrepair, and we have restored it, using natural raw materials and eliminating cement, aluminum and all polluting materials that unfortunately have often crept into rural contexts like ours.

In the fragrant garden of the Locanda there are all the shrubs of the Mediterranean, the aromatic herbs that were on the windowsills of our grandmothers’ houses, ready to be used in the kitchen or as natural healing remedies.

Our suppliers are all local or at least Sardinian, because we believe in the importance of cooperation and in the enhancement of what is produced in Sardinia.

We have eliminated plastic, replacing it, in the case of disposables, with paper, bamboo or biodegradable materials.

The detergents we use are in concentrated format: you only buy the active part of the detergent, not the water! The simple act of dilution avoids pollution due to the production and diffusion of new plastic containers and sprayers, and their disposal. Moreover, the transport of water is also avoided.

We share these principles with the guests, inviting them to respect the environment that welcomes them, to follow the rules on recycling, not to take away sand or shells from the beaches, not to uproot flowers or shrubs from the countryside, preferring other forms of souvenirs.

The experiences that we propose, carried out in collaboration with some of the excellence of our territory, allow our guests to learn about and experience the most authentic Sardinia, helping to preserve our heritage and to disseminate our traditions and our culture.

Finally, we are convinced that cooperation is the best way to achieve important goals. That’s why since 2020 we have become partners of the Sardinia Ecotourism Network.

The first Ecotourism Network in Sardinia was born in 2019 from the meeting of a group of entrepreneurs who have been working for years in tourism, committed to the importance of sustainability, a value that is the basis of our activities. In a short time, the network has spread to an increasing number of adherents and expands from the coasts to the lesser known inland. Today it counts more than 40 partner companies, including tour operators, accommodation facilities, hiking guides, museums, archaeological sites and organizers of activities and experiences.

The Sardinia Ecotourism Network is a formidable example of how a critical moment for the island’s tourism, strongly affected by the health emergency that we are going through, has been transformed into a powerful engine of great strength.

The general reaction of tourism workers, moving towards a common goal, and willing to give the economy of the territory a fresh, new start, aims at radically transforming the idea of tourism in Sardinia, in order to protect the ecosystem by learning to respect it.